The invention relates to a system for secure and rapid storage of digital contents on electronic mass memory with particular consideration being given to the fact that the storage process should preferably be applied to legally relevant information which can be written only once but may be read many times (WORM).
The legally secure storage of data is becoming ever more important in our society since an increasing amount of correspondence is being generated which is not committed to paper and therefore it is no longer possible to present a legal case solely on paper. Paper-based data media are often also stored digitally for archiving purposes because it is not really possible to search for, and store, paper documents efficiently. In such processes large quantities of relatively small data records are built up, such as about 50-100 KB for one page of paper. These must be stored in accordance with legal provisions in a reliable and tamper-proof manner for up to 30 years.
The storage of data has thus far frequently been effected on so-called WORM tapes or optical WORM CDs. These magneto-optical storage media can be written to only once but may be read many times if desired. The disadvantage of these media is the limited storage space on the CD or the tape. In order to get around this problem mechanical systems Oukeboxes) were introduced which change the memory media in the read-write apparatus. However, since the writing and reading speed of these media is relative low, systems have increasingly become established which preconnect a more rapid hard disc memory as a cache system. However, in this case considerable costs and the mechanical susceptibility of the actual systems to the reading and storage of the data still remain. In the recent past there has therefore been a transition to the use of redundant hard disc memories in association with intelligent software. The software secures the WORM property of the hardware which can actually be re-written at any time. This securing process is usually effected through a software-based writing blockade on already written files. A corresponding process is disclosed in, amongst others, the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,661 in which a control program in the system cache receives a write request, checks whether the write request is directed at a memory area for reading and writing or for reading only, wherein then as a result of the check only requests for write/read tracks are implemented.
Since software is not protected against modification and deliberate attack, particular security demands are placed on such a system. At the same time, existing operating systems are used which, by definition, are inherently insecure and have not been optimised for the mass storage of small files. The actually rapid hard disc memories are therefore often also slow when it comes to the writing and reading of many small files, depending on the application the security systems are also unable to withstand a potentially hostile attack on the system. Subsequent change to, or falsification of, the data is possible without it being possible to prove or unravel such a process. The development of dedicated secure operating systems proves to be very complex and would make the resulting end product substantially more expensive for large sectors of consumers.